January 31, 2018: Solving the migrant issue

JPost readers have their say.

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With regard to “Population and Immigration Authority threatened over deportation of African migrants” (January 29), at the risk of sounding Pollyannaish, let me make a proposal that can meet the authentic concerns of both sides, actually build on our mutually shared values and provide a constructive and humane resolution to the matter.

I would suggest that we view these unfortunate migrants from the perspective of our enormously successful foreign assistance programs.

We should aim to view their presence here as an opportunity to train them intensively in fields for which they are best suited, be it in agriculture, commerce, industry, health, education or the like.

In the span of no more than two years, they would be viewed by the world – and many of their home countries – as valuable manpower now capable of contributing to their social and economic development. And if they cannot return home, we can challenge many of the countries that are critical of our hitherto hapless approaches to take a fair share of these persons. These countries have been more than willing to unquestioningly admit millions of refugees fleeing the chaos in the Middle East and Africa, yet somehow offer no support to Israel in dealing with our no-less challenging situation.

Our government, which has no trouble finding funds to bribe these migrants to leave and hire human bloodhounds to track them down, would be better advised to invest in such a program. And our hyper-critical brethren at home and abroad should put their money where their mouths are by providing matching funds for the program and offering to assist immediately in the planning and delivery of such a program.

Seen as a constructive challenge, I am convinced that we can succeed brilliantly and, in so doing, begin to repair the many heartbreaking tears in our communal fabric.

HARVEY LITHWICK
Meitar

Bravo to reader Alfred Yarrow (“Seeking some righteous Jews,” Letters, January 29) for suggesting that we record for all time the names of Knesset members who show mercy for our economic migrants and “those with hearts of stone.”

The percentage of these refugees is so small in relation to our population that even the Trumpian rust-belters among us would hardly notice them or be in danger of being offended by them.

Israel, of all countries, knows the value of migrants – we are a melting pot of people from all over the globe and we know that this is what continues to make us great. The Bible commands us to welcome the stranger. Let us not forget that we always have followed this tradition. Let us continue doing so and being a light to other nations.

It sounds to me like The Jerusalem Post has become the unofficial spokesperson for people against the expulsion of illegal aliens from Israel.

Long articles and op-eds such as “Activists to pilots: Don’t fly migrants to Africa” (January 12) and ‘’Why force deportation when there are better options?” (Observations, January 26) are incitement for subversive actions against the wise decision of our government to expel the illegals.

Let the people who suffer from the high rates of crime among illegal aliens express their feelings in your columns to explain how harsh and dangerous their lives have become. I am tired of reading op-eds written by anarchists and upper-class people who hate the concept of borders and the values of patriotism.

FREDERIC SROUSSI
Kfar Saba

Geometric way of looking at life

Rabbi Tuly Weisz refers favorably to Thomas Cahill’s book The Gift of the Jews (“Who’s afraid of reporting the news from a biblical perspective?” (Unto the Nations, January 28).

Mr. Cahill (and Rabbi Weisz) claim that the Jews revolutionized historic thought by emphasizing a linear forward movement of history rather than repetitive, seasonal cycles. This view is not wrong, but it is only half-right.

The genius of our Torah is that it combines a forward-moving sense of history with a passionate devotion to days and seasons . Hence, the Torah’s unremitting emphasis on the weekly Shabbat and, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent, the Rosh Hodesh (new month) and the annual cycle of Pessah, Shavuot and Sukkot. It goes even further, to cycles of seven years (shmitta) and 50 (the yovel).

Our geometric way of looking at life is a combination of the circle and a forward-moving line, namely a cone/helix, which gives us the best of both.
JAC FRIEDGUT
Jerusalem

It’s oh so simple

I wish to congratulate Yonatan Gher for “Why do I hate my country?” (Observations, January 26). He points out that the underlying reason Palestinians throw rocks at our soldiers is the “50-year-long occupation.”

It is easy to demonstrate the correctness of Mr. Gher’s assertion. As soon as Israel ended its “occupation” of the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas established a thriving democracy there and immediately recognized Israel’s right to exist as the homeland of the Jewish People. In the past 12 years, not a single missile has been fired from Gaza into Israel. Hamas even built tunnels to help Gaza’s tourists visit Israel.

Mr. Gher laments that the Israeli government lacks the wisdom to end the “occupation” of the West Bank and sign a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. To skeptics who doubt whether the Palestinians can be trusted, I point to the 1993 Oslo Accords.

These accords were accompanied by a letter from Yasser Arafat stating: “The PLO commits itself... to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and declares that all outstanding issues will be resolved through negotiations...” and “the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence.” As is well known, Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, have faithfully honored this commitment. In fact, not a single Israeli has been killed or injured by Palestinians since 1993.

I cannot understand why our prime minister fails to accept Mr. Gher’s proposal to immediately withdraw the IDF from the West Bank, an act that will bring peace and security to our troubled land.

NATHAN AVIEZER
Petah Tikva

The Hebrew roots of Japanese?

With regard to “Lionizing a rebel” (January 26), about Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who saved the lives of many Polish Jews from Nazi evils, I would like to mention that the Japanese language contains several words that can be traced back to Hebrew roots.

In fact, before the Japanese changed their alphabet during the eighth century to modified Chinese characters, it was often thought that because of the similarity of the Japanese symbols to proto-Canaanite Hebrew, the Japanese were part of the so-called lost tribes.

Most blinkered linguists prefer to move away from anything that connects their theories to the ancient Hebrew languages and alphabets.

Some go as far as to say that the oldest verified consonantal alphabet is Greek, which simply is not true.

There are many articles concerning Hebrew being the origins of the Japanese language and other languages. Prof. Isaac Mozeson and his team of international researchers proved this through their research, the essence of which is available online and in his books.

I wonder if this is why many Japanese are of the opinion that studying about Chiune Sagahari is a tool for moral education?

LEONARD E. BOOK
Ashkelon

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